First Families of Orangeburgh District, South Carolina

JACOB WANNEMACHER married ANNA CATHARINA SCHULER, the daughter of JOHANN JAKOB SCHULER and ANNA MARGRETHA LAUER[4], on 3 Dec 1740 in Orangeburgh Township, South Carolina[1,2]. She was baptized on 17 Oct 1720 in Lambsborn, Germany[4].

On 25 Nov 1749, Catherine Wanymaker petitioned for 300 acres of land on behalf of her husband, stating that he had a wife and four children[3]. There is no record of the 300 acres being surveyed or granted.

"Meeting of Saturday 25 November 1749
Pages 723-724: Read the Humble Petition of Catherine Wanymaker in behalf of her Husband setting forth that the Pet'rs Husband had a Wife and four Children for whom and himself he never had any Grant of Land or Warrant of Survey in this Province and was desirous of improving some of his Majestys Vacant Land, prayed to lay out to the Pet'r 300 acres of Land in the Fork of Pon Pon River and that he might have a Grant for the same. Signed Catherine Wanymaker (+). The Granting the Prayer thereof was Postponed as there were but three of the Council Present."[3]

On 26 Mar 1765, a Jacob Wannamaker plat for 200 acres of land on Little Bull Swamp was certified. This land lay between that of Henry Rickenbacker and Joseph Robinson[8].

Children of Jacob Wannemacher and Anna Cathrina Schuler are:

a. WILLIAM WANNEMACHER, bapt. 30 May 1742 in Orangeburgh Township, South Carolina[1,2].

The name Wannemacher comes from the Latin "Vannus" which is a winnowing basket. In German this became "Wanne" (plural Wannen) and later came to mean also trough or tub (in modern German a "Badewanne" is a bathtub). A Wannemacher or Wannenmacher was one who made winnowing baskets. Wannemacher was not a common surname in Eighteenth Century Germany and Switzerland but occurs often enough to not be considered unusual. A slightly more common surname with the same etymology is Wanner.

RESEARCH NOTES:

Most Wannamaker genealogies offer some form of the following: "Jacob Wannamaker arrived in America in 1738 from the Rhineland of Germany via Switzerland." Some mention that,: "he was born in Speyer, Germany in 1714." Others add that "he traveled via Zurich." None cite their sources!. It is fact that a Jacob Wannemacher arrived in Philadelphia on the ship Charming Nancy, from Rotterdam, on 9 Nov 1738 and that his age was given as 24[5]. That this is the Orangeburgh Jacob, that he was born in Speyer, and that he traveled via Switzerland are all assertions for which I've been unable to find any documentation.

I find it suggestive that Johan Jakob Schuler (Jacob's father-in-law) was baptized in Ferenbalm, Switzerland. Ferenbalm is listed as the only Wannemacher home village in Switzerland in the Eighteenth Century[7]. Unfortunately, I've had no luck connecting Jacob Wannemacher to Ferenbalm. - jer

REFERENCES:

1. Joop Giesendanner, "The Book of Record, Orangeburgh, SC". http://www.xs4all.nl/~sail/.

2. A. S. Salley, The History of Orangeburg County, South Carolina, 1898.

3. Brent Holcomb, Petitions for Land from the South Carolina Council Journals, Vol. I1 : 1748-1753, 1997, p. 97.